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Here's an idea from my IB online workshop. It didn't work well there because people didn't contribute to it, but I know we all will.
Please add your contributions to setting up a student guide to internal assessment at IB. This should by the end of T3 be a useful resource that we can turn into a document for distribution to students at the start of y12 to ensure consistency of the IB IA criteria across group 4 subjects.
Hopefully this will then be used to filter down through the POAE criteria used in KS4 to give us a model to use for all lab work throughout Secondary Science.
Comments encouraged...

Andy

General Introduction
What is internal assessment?	Basically this is your "Physics coursework". You will compile a portfolio of your experiments during the course. Some of these will be assessed, and the best marks from these assessed pieces will be used to give you a "PSOW" mark. This PSOW mark will make up 24% of your final level in Physics.
What is the IB philosophy of internal assessment?	The internal assessment is there because the IB values practical work as an important part of your development as a Physicist. All of the theoretical work you do has application in the "real world" and it is essential that you see this so as to give you perspective of the bigger picture. Practical work achieves this goal, as well as backing up theory and helping you understand by doing- "you remember 30% of what you read, 50% of what you read and write, and 70% of what you read write and do"
How does the IA relate to the learner profile?
What is my teacher required to do?
What will my teacher be asking of me?
What strategies for success would you recommend as my teacher?
Design
What constitutes a focussed research question?	A focussed reaserch question is a question that asks how one thing will change as the result of another thing changing. One of the things is what you are going to vary in your experiment (independent variable) and the other thing is what you are going to measure because of what you vary (dependent variable). A good reaserch question is short, to the point, and mentions both the independent variable and dependent variables.
What is the difference between a dependent variable, an independent variable and a controlled variable?	When perforning an experiment you usually change one thing and measure the effect of this change on something else. For example, measuring the time taken for revising for an exam and the effect this has on the results! The thing (variable) that you change is called the independent variable, what you measure is the dependent. When plotting the results the independent should go on the x-axis, the dependent on the y-axis. The controlled variables are things that are kept constant to prevent their influence on the effect of the independent variable on the dependent. Every experiment has a controlling variable(s), and it is necessary to not change it/them, or the results of the experiment won't be valid. In summary: The independent variable answers the question "What do I change?". The dependent variable answers the question "What do I observe?". The controlled variable answers the question "What do I keep the same?".
Do you have any advice for designing a method that effectively controls variables?	Brainstorm your research question, and list all of the factors that might (even just a little) have an effect on the outcome of your experiment. All of these things have got to be controlled (the controlled variables). If you start by writing down how you will control each of these variables, then you have the outlines of a "fair test". Now all you have to do is write down what you will do to vary your indepentend variable, how you intend to measure it, then what you will do to keep everything else the same (your list from previously in prose), and how you will measure each one just to make sure it is staying the same, and finally how you will measure your dependent variable each time you change your independent variable.
What constitutes sufficient relevant data?
Data Collection and Processing
What advice can be offered regarding recording of raw data?	Draw a blank table of results before you start your experiment, and fill it in as you carry out the experiment. DON'T wait until the end of the experiment, and then copy someone elses. By writing down your data as you take it, you guard against one person acidentally writing down the wrong value and jeapodising the experiment. Also by writing down results as they happen, you can see immediately if the experiment is going as you would expect or not. If not you may need to go back an alter something, much better to see this at the beginning of an experiment than at the end. Make sure that you take results in standard units, or at least leave room in your tble of results to convert them into standard units. Taking results in non standard units is a guaranteed way of confusing yourself when it comes to processing your data. Finally think carefully abouty the number you are writing down, particularly with a thought to precission and accurayt (remember the difference?). Make sure that measurements are to an appropriate number of decimal places, and that you can explain why you took the reading to that precision. If you take on reading to an precision of 1mm, then all subsequent reading of that value need to be to the same precision for best practice.
What are uncertainties and why must I take them into account?
What kind of associated qualitative data might be included?
What is the distinction between aspect 2 and aspect 3; i.e.. Between processing data correctly and presenting processed data correctly?
What must I do to show an understanding of errors and uncertainties in my processed data?
Conclusion and Evaluation
What are the features of an effective conclusion?
What constitutes a justification for an experimental conclusion? Distinguish between support of a conclusion and proof of a conclusion.
Identify some of the things that lead you to lack confidence in conclusions drawn from experiments.
Distinguish between limitations in the design of procedures and limitations in the performance of procedures.